Maintaining document state history
First Claim
1. A method implemented in a computer program application performing operations on documents having states, the method comprising:
- the application maintaining in a memory a state history of a document; and
whenever an interesting operation has occurred, an interesting operation being an operation by the application that changes the state of the document in response to a user command, automatically capturing the state of the document as it exists after the operation and adding the captured state to the state history of the document, the captured state of the document being complete in itself in the sense that earlier document states in the state history of the document can be deleted without adverse effect on later document states.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus embodying techniques useful in systems for creating and modifying documents. A state history of a document for storing document states is maintained; and, whenever an interesting operation has occurred, the state of the document is automatically captured as it exists after the operation. The captured state is added to the state history. In another aspect, the techniques identify for a user on a display device a set of states that the document has been in by operation of the system; and enable the user to designate any arbitrary one of the identified states for further operations. The techniques may provide both linear and non-linear history.
-
Citations
44 Claims
-
1. A method implemented in a computer program application performing operations on documents having states, the method comprising:
-
the application maintaining in a memory a state history of a document; and whenever an interesting operation has occurred, an interesting operation being an operation by the application that changes the state of the document in response to a user command, automatically capturing the state of the document as it exists after the operation and adding the captured state to the state history of the document, the captured state of the document being complete in itself in the sense that earlier document states in the state history of the document can be deleted without adverse effect on later document states. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A computer-implemented method of interacting with a user editing a document in a computer program application, the document having a document state, the method comprising:
-
receiving from the user a sequence of commands to change the state of the document; changing the document state in response to each command; adding the changed document state to a state history maintained by the application in a computer-readable memory device each time the document state is changed, the changed document state being complete in itself in the sense that older document states in the state history of the document can be discarded without adverse affect on the added document state; for each document state added to the state history, adding a corresponding entry to a history list displayed to the user on a computer-controlled display device operated as part of a graphical user interface; and in response to a user action, selecting an item in the history list and establishing the document state corresponding to the selected item in the history list as the current state of the document. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method implemented in a computer program application operable to create and edit a document, comprising:
-
maintaining in a memory a state history of a document, each state in the state history being complete in itself in that any state in the state history can be deleted without adverse affect on other states; in response to a user action, selecting a first state from the state history and establishing the first selected state of the document as the current state of the document; in response to a user action, selecting a second state from the state history, the second state being a state created after the first state, as a source of data for an operation; and performing the operation with the data from the second state on the first state to create a third state.
-
-
18. A method implemented in a computer program application operable to create and edit a document, comprising:
-
keeping a history of document states of a document, the history being kept by the application, the document states being created automatically by the application whenever a user command to the application changes the state of the document, the document states being complete in themselves; enabling the user to discard any of the states in the history to create a revised history; and enabling the user to step backward and forward through the revised history and alter the state of the document to be any of the document states in the revised history.
-
-
19. A method implemented in a computer program application operable to create and edit a document, comprising:
-
keeping a history of document states of a document, the history being kept by the application, the document states being created automatically by the application whenever a user command to the application changes the state of the document, the document states being complete in themselves; enabling the user to discard any of the states in the history to create a revised history; and enabling the user to designate any one of the document states in the revised history and establish the designated state as the current state of the document. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method enabling a user to control operation of a computer program application for creating and modifying a document, the method comprising:
-
Identifying for the user on a display device a set of states that the document has been in by operation of the application, each state being complete in itself in the sense that any earlier state in the set of states can be deleted without adverse affect on later document states; and enabling the user to designate any one of the identified states as a document state operand. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions defining a computer program application for performing operations on documents having states, the program comprising instructions operable for causing a programmable processor to:
-
maintain in a memory a state history of a document by the application; and whenever an interesting operation has occurred, an interesting operation being an operation by the application that changes the state of the document in response to a user command, the state being complete in itself and independent of other states, automatically capture the state of the document as it exists after the operation, the captured state of the document being complete in itself in the sense that earlier document states in the state history of the document can be deleted without adverse affect on later document states, and add the captured state to the state history of the document. - View Dependent Claims (39)
-
-
40. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions for interacting with a user editing a document in a computer program application, the document having a document state, the computer program product comprising instructions operable for causing a programmable processor to:
-
receive from the user a sequence of commands to change the state of the document; change the document state in response to each command; add the changed document state to a state history maintained by the application in a computer-readable memory device each time the document state is changed, the changed document state being complete in itself in the sense that older document states in the state history of the document can be discarded without adverse affect on the added document state; for each document state added to the state history, add a corresponding entry to a history list displayed to the user on a computer-controlled display device operated as part of a graphical user interface; and in response to a user action, select an item in the history list and establish the document state corresponding to the selected item in the history list as the current state of the document.
-
-
41. A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
-
keep a state history of a document, each state in the state history being complete in itself in that any state in the state history can be deleted without adverse affect on other states; in response to a user action, select a first state from the state history and establish the first selected state of the document as the current state of the document; in response to a user action, select a second state from the state history, the second state being a state created after the first state, as a source of data for an operation; and perform the operation with the data from the second state on the first state to create a third state.
-
-
42. A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
-
keep a history of document states by the application, the document states being created automatically by the application whenever a user command to the application changes the state of a document, the document states being complete in themselves in the sense that earlier document states in the history can be deleted without adverse affect on later document states; enable the user to discard any of the states in the history to create a revised history; and enable the user to step backward and forward through the revised history and alter the state of the document to be any of the document states in the revised history.
-
-
43. A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
-
keep a history of document states by the application, the document states being created automatically by the application whenever a user command to the application changes the state of a document, the document states being complete in themselves in the sense that earlier document states in the history can be deleted without adverse affect on later document states; enable the user to discard any of the states in the history to create a revised history; and enable the user to designate any one of the document states in the revised history and establish the designated state as the current state of the document.
-
-
44. A computer program, residing on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
-
create and modify a document; identify for a user on a display device a set of states that the document has been in by operation of the application, each state being complete in itself in the sense that any earlier state in the set of states can be deleted without adverse affect on later document states; and enable the user to designate any one of the identified states.
-
Specification